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Alberto Lowe / Reuters
Panama's former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega takes part in a news conference in Panama City in 1998. Noriega left Paris early on Sunday, headed for a prison in his home country to serve a 20-year term for the murders of opponents during his rule. Noriega, now 77, was toppled in a U.S. invasion in 1989 and has spent the last two decades behind bars, first in Florida and then in France after being convicted for drug trafficking and money laundering.
This story was updated at 6:30 p.m. ET
PANAMA CITY - More than two decades after the U.S. forced him from power, Manuel Noriega returned to Panama on Sunday as a prisoner and, to many of those he once ruled with impunity, an irrelevant man.
Some Panamanians feel hatred for the former strongman and rejected American ally; a few others nostalgia. But hours before his arrival in the capital, Panama City, it seemed like few had any strong feelings at all. The crowds were not of protesters or supporters but holiday shoppers.
French officials turned Noriega over to their Panamanian counterparts early Sunday. His flight from Paris, with a stop in Madrid, landed in Panama that evening. Officials said a helicopter was waiting to whisk him to the El Renacer prison.
Noriega served prison terms in the U.S. and France before being sent back to Panama to answer for the deaths of political opponents. The ailing, 77-year-old former general is returning to a country much different from the one he left after surrendering to U.S. forces Jan. 3, 1990.
The government, once a revolving cast of military strongmen, is now governed by its fourth democratically elected president, Ricardo Martinelli.
El Chorrillo, Noriega's boyhood neighborhood and a downtown slum that was heavily bombed during the 1989 invasion, now stands in the shadow of luxury high-rise condominiums that have sprung up along the Panama Canal since the United States handed over control of the waterway in 2000.
The rotting wooden tenements of the community have been replaced by cement housing blocks. Noriega's former headquarters have been torn down and converted into a park with basketball courts.
While some Panamanians are eager to see punishment for the man who stole elections and dispatched squads of thugs to beat opponents bloody in the streets, others believe his return means little.
"I don't think Noriega has anything hugely important to say," said retired Gen. Ruben Dario Paredes, who headed Panama's army before Noriega took over in the early 1980s. "The things he knows about have lost relevance, because the world has changed and the country has, as well."
"In politics, he won't have any great impact, because the people of Panama have other concerns," said Marco Gandasegui, a sociology professor at Panama's Center for Latin American Studies.
Things were different in the 1970s and 1980s, when Noriega, whose pockmarked face earned him the nickname "Pineapple Face," became a valuable ally to the CIA. At that time, Noriega helped the U.S. combat leftist movements in Latin America by providing information and logistical help, and also acted as a back channel for U.S. communications with unfriendly governments such as Cuba's.
But as the Cold War waned, Noriega became a more powerful and unforgiving dictator at home. Tensions developed between the strongman and U.S. officials, who also had been aware for some time that he was also working with the Colombia-based Medellin drug cartel.
A U.S. grand jury indicted him on drug charges in 1988, escalating tensions between his forces and U.S. troops stationed around the Panama Canal. A U.S. Marine was killed in one clash. President George H.W. Bush also accused Noriega's men of abusing a U.S. Navy serviceman and his wife.
On Dec. 20, 1989, more than 26,000 U.S. troops began moving into Panama City, clashing with Noriega loyalists in fighting that left sections of the city devastated. Twenty-three U.S. troops, 314 Panamanian soldiers and 200 civilians died in the operation.
The dictator hid in bombed and burned-out neighborhoods before he sought refuge in the Vatican Embassy, which was besieged by U.S. troops playing loud rock music. When he gave up he was flown to Miami for trial on drug-related charges.
Noriega was convicted on the U.S. drug trafficking charges two years after the invasion, and served 17 years. He received special treatment as a prisoner of war and lived in his own bungalow with a TV and exercise equipment.
When his sentence ended, he was extradited to France, which convicted him for laundering millions of dollars in drug profits through three major French banks, and investing drug cash in three luxury Paris apartments.
In Panama, Noriega was sentenced in absentia to 20-year prison terms for the murders of military commander Moises Giroldi, slain after leading a failed 1989 rebellion, and Hugo Spadafora, a political opponent found decapitated on the border with Costa Rica in 1985. He received a 20-year sentence in a third case involving the death of troops who aided one of his opponents in a rebellion, and could be tried in the deaths of other opponents.
Unlike his minimum-security digs outside Miami, Noriega's cell in Panama's El Renacer prison will be spartan.
Noriega "will be located in an individual cell, without luxuries and in similar conditions to the rest of the inmates," Interior Ministry spokeswoman Vielka Pritsiolas said.
Pictures posted on the ministry's website showed a cell with little more than a bed, a table, and a shelf. It has its own tiny bathroom, relatively wide window slits and door screens that look out onto a sunny, tropical space with plants.
Noriega's lawyers in Panama have said they plan to request house arrest under a law that allows those over 70 to serve their sentences at home. His legal team says he has blood pressure problems and is paralyzed on the left side as a result of a stroke several years ago.
Hatuey Castro, 82, a Noriega opponent who was detained and beaten by his henchmen, says it is about time Noriega paid for what he did.
"Noriega was responsible for the invasion and those who died in the operation," he said. "He dishonored his uniform, there was barely a shot and he went off to hide. He must pay."
Others are more sympathetic toward the aging ex-general. When last seen during his extradition from the United States to France, he appeared to have difficulty walking and was assisted by others.
"This man has paid for his crimes, and it looks like he can hardly walk anymore," said 67-year-old retiree Hildaura Velasco. "If he dies in prison, or at home, what does it matter?"
Dance professor Ileana de Sola, 80, says it's time to let the past go.
"At his age, they should forgive him and not hurt him," she said. "The people in the Panamanian government now have been good and not so good. So he's not the only one who has committed sins. ... They should leave him alone."
Although they are probably in a minority, there are also those who harbor a certain nostalgia for the Noriega era. Panama has seen a spike in street gangs and drug violence since his ouster.
The country also remains a base for international drug trafficking and money laundering, and suffers from income inequality. Its government is struggling with an ambitious plan to expand the Panama Canal, and to balance foreign investment in tourism and mining against concerns they could harm the environment.
Where Martinelli, the current president, rose to prominence as a supermarket magnate, Noriega worked hard to develop the image of a man of the people. His private life was that of a rich man, but publicly he stressed his humble origins and spent weekends courting the residents of rural towns and villages.
Noriega "did bad things, but he also did good things," said Sabina Delgado, 60, a mother of six who has lived her whole life in El Chorrillo, which has been hit by a wave of violent gang crime. "Imagine, when he was here, the country didn't have as much crime. There weren't as much drugs, there was more control."
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Leave a Comment:
Any chance his plane cane be routed over the Bermuda Triangle during a period of extreme turbulance? Or maybe he could be put on a drone and return home via way of Pakistan......
1. What is the difference bet a dictator and a strongman?
2. Why certain dictators killed and others "jailed"?
3. Why move him now?
Word on that, wherever they put him, as long as he is in jail, Panama is much better without him.
500 people died in the military battle just to arrest that worthless slob
Give your hate a time out Ken Wulf.
Noriega was the US best friend in the 60's/70's just like Bin Laden was in the 80's.. etc. I'm sure they are setting up Mexico's current president for all sorts of crimes.
As bad as Noriega was for Panama, the U.S. put him in power, propped him up, then shamelessly killed thousands of innocent citizens of Panama to catch him.
The U.S. (Reagan ) used Noriega to transport weapons to Northern Costa Rica to fight the Sandinista in Nicaragua. (War crimes under Reagan then Bush senior.)
This was one of the most shameful, disgusting episodes in U.S. history.
Or maybe you could wake up and realize he was just a pawn of Bush Sr. as well as the CIA to keep American forces in Panama to keep in complete control of the flow of drugs coming to this country. So, if you put him on the drone at least let it crash into the Bush residence. :)
Dont proof read the articles before publishing? one paragraph is repeated twice..
You may wish to correct it?
Vegas_Rage
500 people died in the military battle just to arrest that worthless slob
The locals i talk to in Panama put the number at closer to 5000. You can still see the bullet-riddled neighborhoods where we basically slaughtered anything that moved. The locals said it was absolutely terrifying when the US soldiers came in.
To PJ: I think a dictator has some legal powers, but a strongman does not pay a kickback to the US!
Some are killed because they do not want them to "speak" anymore, and others are jailed for furture use! Like more deals for so government agents can nail more organizations and GET THAT ALMIGHTY DOLLAR or drug that makes the dollar! Watch Chip Tatum and the corrupt government drug deals!
And final, but not least, they are probably moving him NOW, because the CORRUPT GOVERNMNET AGENTS N E E D him N O W! (To do some dirty work that they cannot do without him) and of course that would involve the goverment agents moving a lot of DOPE to get more of the almigty dollar...tax free pocket billions for D O P E!
You do not really think it is anywhere NEAR being about J U S T I C E, do you????? LOL N O T!
They are about to WAGE MORE WAR against our our citizens, by making it appear as though we are ALL a bunch of criminal drug users, so they can put more of us in jails. They are on a mission to prove the cops are needed because there are now more crooks.....(when they are the real crooks themselves, with all of their diobolical plots to use snitched, and cartel drug lords.)
No one brings drugs into this country without the help as A S S I S T A N C E of our own dear public officials.
Do you know that they sell weapons to drug lords for C O C A I N E???? Oh, YES! Go straight to CHIP TATUM AND THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT DRUG DEALS!
Guns that are paid for by our tax money get free tons of C O C A I N E for public officials, and agents to resell, OVERHEAD FREE!!!!! Because our tax money pays for the guns and weapons!
WAKE UP AMERICA, trouble is coming to America! Get any family members and put them into treatment NOW. GET THEM OFF OF DRUGS, so the stupid officials can stick the stuff where the sun don't shine!!!!!!
Here's one of the reasons Noriega will never "finish" his sentence and why he is considered so dangerous by the high government officials:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1091/922214732_a923287100_o.jpg
Noriega would be too much of an…uh…embarrassment to the U.S. the CIA and the Bush family (or at least Bush Sr.) to ever be let out. He knows where too many U.S./CIA and Bush Sr. Skeletons are hidden so he will never see the light of day:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/noriega%20george%20bush%20cia/kos102/2009/Rogues/bush-Noriega.jpg
"….Before Saddam Hussein there was Manuel Noriega. Like Saddam, Noriega enjoyed US support until he turned into a wayward ally, then an embarrassment, and finally an "imminent danger" who had to be overthrown.
Noriega was recruited as a CIA informant while studying at a military academy in Peru. He received intelligence and counterintelligence training at the School of the Americas at Fort Gulick, Panama, in 1967, as well as a course in psychological operations at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was to remain on the CIA payroll until February 1988.
After a military coup in 1968, Noriega quickly rose through the ranks and became head of Panama's military intelligence and a key figure under General Omar Torrijos, the military ruler who signed a treaty with the US to restore the Panama canal zone to Panamanian sovereignty in 1977.
After Torrijos's death in a mysterious plane crash in 1981, Noriega consolidated his power, becoming Panama's de facto ruler, promoting himself to full general in 1983.
Noriega made himself valuable to the US during the Contra wars when he allowed the US to set up listening posts in Panama and by helping the US campaign against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. Noriega allowed Panama to be used as a conduit for US money and weapons for the Contras as then US president Ronald Reagan sought to undermine the Sandinistas…"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/27/manuel-noriega-us-friend-foe
Wikipedia:
Although the relationship did not become contractual until 1967, Noriega worked with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the late 1950s until the 1980s.[9] In 1988 grand juries in Tampa and Miami indicted him on U.S. federal drug charges.[10][11]…
Noriega strengthened his position as de facto ruler in August 1983 by promoting himself to full general. Noriega, being paid by the CIA, extended new rights to the United States, and, despite the canal treaties, allowed the U.S. to set up listening posts in Panama. He aided the American-backed guerrillas in Nicaragua by acting as a conduit for U.S. money, and according to some accounts, weapons….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega
More: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm#3a
Oh, yes, cautious, our government has become one of the biggest gangs in the world! They just TAKE what they want like the little gangs on the streets!
It is ALL ABOUT MONEY! They take the DOPE, TOO, AND FLOOD OUR COUNTRY WITH IT TO MAKE AS MUCH POCKET MONEY AS THEY CAN! That would be overhead free money, because it is our taxes who pay for the weapons traded for D O P E!!!
Go watch: Chip Tatum and the corrupt government drug deals! YOU WILL FEAK OUT!!!!!
To ArchStanton: GREAT POST!!!! And thank you for more of the background. I hadn't read yours yet before I posted mine, but you did a wonderful job describing the CORRUPT GOVERNMENT DRUG DEALS.
I hope everyone reads it and understands it. Problem is some people wont read a length post, or one that tells the TRUTH! I read all of them, or as many as I can that are especially long.
I figure if a person has that much to say.....I want to know. It takes a lot of effort to explain things sometimes.
Thank you very much!
tomorrows...
Heck, all countries are corrupt, some more than others. Remember B-Rod, Cunningham, Delay, etc, etc. I think that it is time we grew up and realized that our government has cut deals with some pretty bad guys. The reasons that the govt provide for these relationships, as well as the relationships, are very questionable.
I do not think that anyone is being hypocritical, when they hold America to a higher standard, least of all Americans. IMO, it is those who use defense as the perennial excuse that rea questionable. How did the war in Grenada make the US safer?
Pat,
Cunningham and Delay are small potatoes compared to what is going on now. Bohner, Pelosie and Congress have overall increased their net worth 25% in the last two years. LOL!
Close the Fed
As bad as Noriega was for Panama, the U.S. put him in power, propped him up, then shamelessly killed thousands of innocent citizens of Panama to catch him.
The U.S. (Reagan ) used Noriega to transport weapons to Northern Costa Rica to fight the Sandinista in Nicaragua. (War crimes under Reagan then Bush senior.)
This was one of the most shameful, disgusting episodes in U.S. history.
Yep right up until now!
Just wait till the dirt on thie criminals in power right now starts coming out.
Obama and his regime are disgusting.
Noriega served his time he was double shafted by France and the US people should leave this tired old man alone.
He's Panama's problem. Let Panama deal with Noriega however they see fit.
So many ill informed people and all for the "American Democracy". That which has destroyed so many other countries middle class with bribes, CIA plots and @!$%#ty policy yet most can't seem to connect the dots. Noriega never sold and drugs to anyone that didn't want to buy them. He was just helping to support the CIA arms trade. Twas and still is the big dawgs in our country letting the drugs come across the border. Rationality dictates if the FDA approves alcohol and tobocco okay for human consumption, all dope should be as well? To believe otherwise is just plain irrational. When soldiers lose their life for @!$%# like that ask yourself how many senators or congressman have relatives or family members going off to battle.
He got the message to NEVER cross the Bush gang.
lol awesome!
Yes he did, Since he laundered Iran-Contra Drug Money for Bush Reagan
That is a fact
Yeah, first we didn't care, then we loved him, then we hated him, then we didn't care. Just like all dictators.
That's exactly what happened. When he realized what Bush democracy was and didn't want it anymore.. Bam!! Hmmmmm his son did something similiar as well, didn't he? .. Imagine that!!
This guy is small time compared to the clowns we have running this country.
TeaDoink Alert!
We could put the entire House of Representatives in prison!
SteveMW
Very true Steve.
The difference is he is still in prison, and our now quaint phrase; "No man is above the law" has been reduced to a mere joke.
Agreed considering the clowns running this country are the ones that set the whole thing up!!
The creep is 77 years old. It's not prison, it's assisted living at that point.
The laws in Panama, to my kwoledge, do not put a person over 62 years old in prison. Thus, my understanding is that he will be given "home bound prison".....I believe with access to phones and other goodies
Nice way to retire
Most likely partially why france let him go. Let panama pay his medical expense which I am sure is not as advanced as france
Some MORONS should read the story before they put their mouths in gear!
He will be housed at the former Canal Zone Penitentiary in Gamboa which is about 20 yards from the Canal itself. It's far from a "home bound prison".
The ONLY reason Bush SR. went after and got Noriega is because Noriega had a VIDEOTAPE of George W. Bush (the chimp) purchasing COCAINE FROM NOREIEGA!!!!
And this only goes to highlight a sick fact: where there is a will, there is a way. There was no will to get Bin Laden, because the 1st thing the chimp did after 9-11 was to ESCORT BIN LADEN's FAMILY SAFELY OUT OF THE US.
Holding them hostage would have shown a "will" to get Bin Laden.
The Bush clan is evil. They bankrupted America and now they have drones spying on and killing US citizens on US soil.http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/11/9360170-report-us-drones-helping-local-police-agencies
I love the self-righteousness of some on this page.
They forget that Noriega was a contractual CIA operative until the 1980s, he quit 'playing ball' so his drug dealings were exposed and used to remove him from power.
Yes just another Right Wing Dictator that the US created, scum, but we made him scum for our own purposes. HE was not allowed to present the scope of his CIA work at trial due to objections by the US Government--Only that he had and the US Governments version of how much he had been paid.
Mark768209 whether you like the President or not, lying about and making up stupid little stories falls under defamation of character and slander but since you are such a insignificant peon !!!! nobody else has bothered to respond to your little stories. Maybe you should write a book on what it is like to be invisible and meaningless to the world and then as a added benefit could video tape you hanging yourself as little extra special to go with your book. But here is a idea, slant your book towards the truth by blaming yourself for being who you are instead of blaming the rest the world like everybody else does who fits your kind. Playing the poor picked on is used way too much.
As for Frankly true, what a ironic name, would lead people to believe what you wrote as fact. But let me throw out a guess. You work for or at least support the liberal media, people who are very good at taking all the facts, listening to both sides, choosing the side nearest to the truth and burning it, and reporting the side furthest from the truth, sugar coating it as to sucker most of the stupid people of this country. Putting it a nut shell don't you agree. Your favorite show being "60 Minutes" competely saddened by the loss of the biggest piece of defication andy rooney, the number one puny brain liberal to ever be an American citizen gone wrong or is he number two behind roosevelt his buddy. I don't know if it was ever decided who was number one, the teacher or the student. Well anyway I am sure you have a big picture of both in your room in the house you share with your parents. I could on but I would just be adding more to a message that already made its point.
Kind of a fuzzy day for you, isn't it William? Lotsa blather bouncing 'round the room, eh?
William,
eh hemm...at this point I'm ahead 8 zip. That's zero for you and how appropo, because you are a zero. Your ignorance of the truth is sad. Just do a little google search. Educate yourself.
Oh I have another one to play with along with mark768209. Well mark, lets start with you, oh are we keeping score sport? So in school you were always for the grades the students including yourself received as being decided on by the students including yourself as opposed to earning the grade by learning the subject and being graded on what knowledge you retained and being tested on to verify how much you indeed did retain, then being graded according to the number of right answers? I know might just be a little above your pay grade but here is a hint, there isn't a right or wrong answer, but I already know what your answer is. Here is a well known fact, "Right" as opposed to "Wrong" in the sense of any situation can not be decided by the opinions of the majority. Thus, our society, example; what is legal is not necesarily "Right" and in most cases "Right" is the exception not the rule when a law or anything is decided upon. Again I realize I am speaking way over your head but I am really trying to come down to your level but I am afraid it just isn't possible so take it as you can understand it that just because eight people agree with you and I have zero a fact I neither agree with or disagree with but simply refuse to waste my time disputing because numbers on either side would be irrelevant according to the examples I just gave you and another one to think about using your numbers it is very possible for eight people or a thousand or a million to be wrong and only one person "Right" "Right" is just "Right" does need anymore said. Next. oh PS I am a zero?, thank you, that is a complement coming from you. Do you really think that you could say anything that would make me run home to mommy crying, what a idiot. Again NEXT.
Now for "Dudogger" I left you for second because I was giving your comment some thought as I responded to mark768209 but I don't have anything. SORRY I just don't get anything when I look into my crystal ball. Your comment I assure you was completely scutinized, I used every form of encryption techniques available, checked with any dead languages. Came up empty, and then it hit me, you're a idiot more so than these others and that your comment just didn't mean anything and so that would explain why nothing came up to dispute. Sometimes I just try too hard when the obvious is staring me right in the face. Sorry it took so long to get back to you but all this wasted effort took time duugy, consult your parents and get back to me and maybe I will concider wasting my time playing with again but only if you do better next time much much better duuppy.
Your right ! Just back from Panama and they say house arrest!
12-1
For ALL you squealin about the Bush gang. How about Jr flighing drugs into Mesa AR while a certain person was Governor.
Bush I, II, Clinton and President Obama ALL were developed by the Agency for the Trans National BANKSTERS so they can establish their New World Order. LOL!
Anyone wish to comment about a certain President who is now crackin down on Cali medical Marijuana growers? Are they cuttin into Big Pharma Prosac and Zanax sales, or the Mexican drug cartels? LOL!
Noriega Who ?
Cara de pina!
Any chance war criminals like WillRunToUndisclosedLocations Cheney can become his cellmate? We have quite a few in this country.....
Good for you Ken keep telling the truth!
We haven't heard much from the Bush senior or junior, really. I hear and see more of Clinton. I guess the Bush family comes to be POTUS to make their money and then they don't "care" anymore.
They must be busy grooming the next generation with contingent master plans for extracting more money. if nothing is good enough for these opportunists, well, they can always start a war.
Here son, have a line...
You people need to do a little reshearch. He was letting drugs come through Panama working with the CIA. Now why would he do this? He was covering Regan's ass by laundering the Iran-Contra money. Regan and the top republicans were dealing with the Iranians before he was elected president and in violation of US law. In other words, the CIA was buying drugs and bringing them to the US.
Be careful Ron. You know too much.Cocaine -contra connection.
Finally, someone who REMEMBERS the facts as they were. Ollie North made no bones about it when he was testifying before congress, and hence faced no charges for his involvement.
Remember LOS MURCIELAGOS air strip which was in Costa Rica and sent C-130 loaded with weapons to Nicaragua, gas fueled ans maintained by the US embassy personnel in Costa Rica to support the CONTRAS in Nicaragua.
Memories of the corrupt US gov. or maybe the new nightmares of Iraq and Afghanistan.
When in Congress and questioned all you have to say is; "I have NO recollection on this issue" and you go FREE
Ah yes ron, I am always so inclined to believe someone who tells me to reshearch the facts, and then tells the facts so I don't have to reshearch the facts. Just one question, what is reshearching? and maybe I would know what to do. And who is Regan? Was it Donald or Steve you were talking about? Donald was Secretary of the Treasurey which I don't know what that is or how it ties in with anything about this story. Oh I probably should have asked about "you people" first. Who is "you people"? that isn't a person like "Deepthroat" or are you referring to in the sense as a given amount of people or group? did you have anybody in mind that you would like to include in that group, family or friends? or is that just open to anybody? so many questions unanswered.
William-1954385
If anyone in here is an idiot it is you!! Most of the people posting are angry because we have elected the worst of the worst politicians available. If you want to see a real azzhole try looking in the mirror.
Man was this "Let all the looney's out Day" I am a idiot huh florida gator? man you are like duuggy, I just don't know how to answer you people. I guess could try what I use to do when I was eight and say "Your mom wears army boots" or "My dad can beat your daddy up" or the classic "I saw your dad wear your mommy clothes, he likes to wear women's under garmets" I have a thousand but I don't want to get in trouble with your parents so run on home little boy. little gator. You dips don't even know the first thing of put downs so give up.
He should have been tried for the murders in Panama years ago and then executed. Look how long he has been housed, fed, and given free medical care at the expense of U.S. and French taxpayers. Ruthless tyrants like this need to be executed as soon as they are caught. But the message sent is, the world is willing to put you up for the rest of your life. "You won't have to work for a thing. We'll take care of you." Quick execution is much better.
Has anyone else noticed that the picture of him above appears to have been manipulated....his head looks too big for the rest of his torso? Someone wanted him to look like a bobble-head....and then again....maybe I need a cup of coffee.
Stack, nah, it really is that way. He's like Ted Kennedy was...the older he got, the more his head to to resemble a parade float. Odd but true.
His right hand man and confidant, George HW Bush, remains at-large.
bush senior was the one wo had far more to hide..., and reason to keep noreiga quiet..
Why does it not say that he worked for the CIA under Bush the Terrorist? Why doe it not say that the U.S Military murdered 4000 men women and children when they invade Panama and buried them in a Mass grave and say only 600 soldiers were killed. Where is the Justice.
George W. Bush should be in Tried by the World Court for Mass murder. This is the ruthless Tyrant and needs to be executed.
Luis Perez, you should go back to Panama or Mexico or where ever you came from. You are probably just leetching off of the system and complaining. Why not go back to your latin american country and forget the US, we dont need you.
soaking our social system here. Oh yea and complaining about the country you l
marilyn...Luiz posted a act. You personally attacked him for it.
You may not like the fact, but your response shows you do not care about facts. You simply resort to a bigoted response.
Perez how much does the DNC pay you tp SPREAD all this BULL-$HIT.....
Luis, you do realize that G.W. Bush was not the president at the time, don't you? He didn't have anything to do with it, not that facts ever got in the way of the left spreading its hatred, but you really should get your head out of your ass before you suffocate.
I don't want to stick up for any of these idiots like frankly true and mark768201 or southerngent but Ken, President George H. W. Bush was the Director of the CIA a very short period until 1977 and then was Vice President 1981 to 1989 and President 1989 to 1993 so Prsident Bush Senior was involved but the whole situation was so twisted by the liberal media that only those who were involved know the truth. Usually the media knows all the truth because they need to know how to falsify the story so that it looks as bad on the good people as humanly possible but in this situation they didn't know everything because it was classified so they had to fabricate so much that it was like a fiction novel that the government let be told because to dispute it would require disclosing classified information and their hope is that people of this country aren't stupid enough to believe anything 60 minutes or any of the rest of these worthless storytellers hand out as fact. If you are dumb enough to believe anything the media tells you then you should seek help they have a pill for everything these days.
Luis Perez-1281366
I was in Colon when Bush invaded Panama, would you please provide documentation that there was 4000 civilians killed in that conflict. Bush invaded Panama to remove a man who was a threat to his administration. Bush had full knowledge of Noriega's dealings, since he was the director of the CIA who hired him.
Wow ken woof, I think they better keep a eye on you, I believe you came real close to threatening the life of a former President for reasons that are irrational and even though you didn't actually say you were considering doing it the fact that you think he should be executed for reasons you don't even have the foggiest idea of to be true. Just because you believe some stupid thing you may have heard by someone and then built on in your little irrational mind to form a opinion such as you have and the fact that anything you have said is unfounded but that you believe it could very well make you a threat some time down the line since most irrational people eventually act upon their irrationalities. When a person such as yourself believes the things that he does and soon looses control of reality, opinion turns to fantasy, fantasy turns to action when that person suddenly elects himself the person to act upon the desire he once had for someone else to do. All irrational attempts and sucesses started exactly as a wish just like yours and any that weren't act upon were a result of rational thought which like I said rational people don't go around saying a President, present or past should be executed. The reason is a rational person reasons out that any action taken either by himself or anybody else must have a purpose that either benefits himself or others and so to decide just how rational you are. Tell us all how executing President Bush would benefit you or anybody else even if the garbage you believe was true. He is a former President who is living in retirement and has absolutely no control over the operating of or decision making in this government that effects the citizens of this country or anybody for that matter in the world. What he did while he held the post as director of the CIA whether you agreed of his actions or not does not mean you have the right to threaten his life or say he should be executed. I really hope this gets back to the authorities and you are completely investigated. I can't stand cliton, what he did or rather his pig mate hillery did was much worst than even the garbage you believe about President Bush, Senior or Junior. But you don't see me saying they should be executed because it would serve no purpose, and I believe they will gets theirs without me getting my hands dirty or anybody else. You don't just go threatening a President.
Why was Marilyanmat's comment collapsed and ken woof's not. Marilyanmat's comment was the only comment I have read that made sense and I agreed with. ken woof says he thinks President Bush should be executed and anybody who voted for him. Well I voted for President Bush so ken woof thinks I should be executed, I don't take kind to being threatened and I don't take kind to someone threatening the life of a President, I hate cliton but I have defended him a couple times for someone doing the same thing, I stay neutral on hillery, no comment. The truth is, we live in America where we have the right to express our opinion and if a white supremacist wants to call a black a, and I won't use the word because I don't want my message to be about a word but rather about how we have the freedom of speech, that doesn't mean we are saying we have the right to act or threaten but name calling is not threatening bodily harm. Blacks call us whites crackers, you think that hurts my feelings?, then call me a cracker. You can't see me so I will tell you, I am laughing because anybody that thinks calling me a as-hole or idiot or anything you can come up with is going anger me than fine, I am the winner. Marilyanmat didn't threaten bodily harm, she was expressing her opinion, and I can't stand the white supremacy's ideology but when it comes to fighting for my freedom of speech I will stand by them or anybody else against those that would take that from me or anybody else. If your skin is that thin then go get fitted for a suit of armor. We don't have the right to hurt someone and so if words hurt someone than I would never contiue hurting them but it isn't because a few people got together and had laws passed to abridge my right or rights, its because I choose to help not hurt. You want to collapse a comment than do ken woof and then report him to the secret service.
That paragraph sounded so good, the editor had to print it twice in a row, just for impact.
when are we going to start convicting the criminals we call our government?
FYI, ... BIG/BRO & Co., has been granted IM-munity, ... because Senators, Congress-people, Judges, Govnors, & of Ereeco's people, CIA, FBI, Czars', BATFE, etc, etc, etc, do NOT have to live by the American Constitution. Nor do they have to follow any "fictiitious" folly of the DOJ imaginary rules.
Noreiaaaagaaah & Osama been laaden, ... BOTH, were "bought & paid for", ... by the USA Administration, TRAINED for & how to do UNDER COVER OPPS, in a wide variety of unscrupulous covert actions for-as-well-as against the USA. BOTH then decided to cut a fat hog and do a switcheroo without immunity, <> simple as pie. BIG/BRO & co, could not lettum getta-way with this IM-PUNITY, so the COVERT ARM of our Meximerican Govt said Look-OUT & swung into action to make a Cou attem, to silence these "traitors".
Please notice he is a graduate of the School of the Americas / Assassns Fort Benning, GA.
Shame on us.
Under George HW Bush, he was our puppet in the drug trade to fund undercover and black ops.
When Noriega got too big for his britches and started keeping more money than he was due, trying to become more powerful, he was "removed from office".
If you want the real criminals, look at the government officials and secret keepers in our own country.
This is a repeating theme: Osama Bin Laden was similarly our good buddy when Russia invaded Afghanistan.
And remember the Shah Reza Pahlavi in Iran?
The list goes on and on.
And always will.
There ARE reasons for doing these things.
Not all of them backfire.
Most all in the ME has been done per the cold war betwixt Russia and the USA. Noriega was Contra-coke money, laundered under the guise of the 'greater good' while the US had it's faux 'war on drugs', fueling another money maker at the expense of American Citizens.
There's no reason for these things, unless of course you can't face someone or some situation head on. Covert games undermine trust in regions they're played out (the ME) and always backfire for that reason.... once you've use whomever you wanted to and have no use for them anymore, it's not 'live and let live', mostly because those you've taken a temporary shining to for reasons A, B, or C weren't those you wanted anything to do otherwise with in the first place.
Human animals are human animals....
good post Frankly: The man is scum, we scrape worse off our shoes. Some of our own congress need a scraping as well.
I hope he gets Jungle rot of the crotch.
Thanks Manuel for the Christmas and News years day I spent on a flightline in a helmet and flack jacket to help
put your sick ass in prison forever.
My only regret is that when we caught you we didn't handcuff you to a light post in El Central.
All that would have been left the next day would have been a set of bloody handcuffs.
Paragraphs 5 and 6 are the exact same...
I get that it's Sunday and a slow news cycle, but cut and paste? Really?
I hope he is made comfortable in his new home "surrounded by a rain-forest."
lol yeah, they made it sound like a paradise setting but i'm hoping it won't be so nice. he's earned it.
A bullet would have been much cheaper and all this global prison hoping wouldn't have had to take place,see this is why countrys are in money trouble,bad spending habits,millions for jails when bullets are cheaper!?
Never heard of a riot in a grave yard or a break out,the dead never rob stores while on parole,just saying.
We call this man a criminal. When we have parasite politicians that have held the same office for some 20-30 and 40 years, sucking the public tit all that time. When are we going to make laws that a perosn can only hold a political office two terms maxium? Opps, I forgot, they make their own rules up there.
There has always been talk about our lying, self-serving reps and senators... and the web is sizzling with more complaints about washington dc. So, the next question is: how do we actually go about cleaning that quagmire up? They won't go quietly into that good night, you can be sure of that. Will the blood of patriots have to water the tree of liberty... again?
Wow. Just yesterday I had to file a 20-page report on this guy. I guess now I know why.
I was a soldier during Operation Just Cause. I knew men who died to oust the murderer. His reach extended far past Panama and he is responsible for more deaths than most know. He's getting what he deserves and he deserves worse.
I was there too Brother. The little forgotten conflict that we spent the Holiday's on.
I did love it when the Gunships shot up the entire Commandacie and left the Christmas tree standing.
Are you sure, you want to go there? I don't care how many people Noriega killed, but remember guy with selective Alzheimer's that many of those killed were precisely when he worked for our Criminals In Action, CIA. And as far as crimes committed, he violated Panamenian law, not international law and we, a u contraire, could give a rat's ass about either law. Our war crimes are our law and I don't care how you slice it, Noriega is not even, or ever was closed to the killing of a million plus innocent civilians. Our "christian and democratic" nation passed that bench mark long time ago. And remember, as bad as Noriega was, he didn't invade other countries for oil under false pretenses. Just because, obvioulsy, you show signs of early selective Alzheimer's, doesn't mean the whole country believes your baloney. Wait, that made me hungry, let me go and prepare a baloney sandwich and celebrate that a nation of 310 millions took on a nation as prepared for war as Pee Wee Herman trying for navy seal.
Hell no, your an idiot. And I do care about how many people he killed. Viewer_Ready, I haven't forgotten and I have a picture of that Christmas tree. So funny you remember that. I remember seeing the specter gunships firing on the city while I was on my way from Fort Clayton. Nasty stuff.
Robert, a lot of things happened there that I will never forget.
One that stands out was all the helis covering every inch of grass on Howard.
Another is the bowling alley used as a "morgue" and the government lying, saying only 27 troops died.
(they kept "killing them off in heli training missions later to even out the numbers)
And the kid that shot his buddy with an M-16 and after that they cut off all of our beer.
(but that didn't matter to us, I was in the AF and we flew our own in after that) :)
That and the pizza and beer at the "Bears Lair".
The refigerated protable "morgues" we lived in.
And the damn gnats.
Oh and the Koaties we fed every morning.
One, I don't think I'll ever forget the pizza down there. What was it about that. Two, if I ever encounter gnats like that again it will be to soon. I was in the Army. 5/87th Inf. Air mobile. We took out a police station and then we were assigned to guard the palace and surrounding area. I remember in the days that followed the stench of bodies that had been trapped under the rubble. Your right. It is a forgotten battle but I still remember it as if it happened yesterday.
Robert, we befriended an Airborne Ranger who took us to the station after it was leveled in his Humvee.
One of the guys I was with found some pictures on the ground and they were turned in to the OSI.
There was a picture of Noriega with a high ranking US official at a party.
That guy no longer works for the US.
Also, they found the VHS porn tapes the sick bastard took with little children.
And I never could figure out what the deal with the pizza was.
Maybe the cheese or something.
All I know is, after working 16 hours on the flightline one of those and a cold beer was DAMN good!
I remeber the tapes. We found some in the palace.
I will have to send you some pictures sometime.
We flew downrange and collected a whole C-130 cargo compartment full of weapons.
I have one of me sitting on top of the weapons with a Chrome Machette that was inscribed to Noriega
from the president of Honduras.
How can he be in a press conference in 1998 ( PICTURE ABOVE ) when he was toppled in 1989, perhaps 1988 seems more reasonable.
Trust me it was Christmas and New Years of 1989.
I was there.
Okay, Viewer_Ready, was he in the press conference in 1989 or toppled in 1989?
Question # 2: What happened in 1998 or was that a typo?
Probably a typo.
Robert and I were there and countless others over Christmas and New Years of 1989.
Google it.
The night they flushed him out of the church, my unit was scrabbled to send him to the US, but our plane did not
have enough fuel.
SO another special opps group with extend range and aerial re-fueling for C-130's took him to Florida
AROUND CUBA.
I think the press conference was held sometime in 1988, then he was forced out at the end of 1989 so 1998 (in the picture above) is a typo because by that time he had already served almost half of his sentence in the USA.